The present invention relates to storage cabinets for articles such as tools and, in particular, to vertically-oriented drawers or like storage units for such cabinets.
Typical tool chests or cabinets are provided with horizontally arranged shelves, drawers, trays and the like for containing or supporting tools or other items. Since horizontal drawers can sometimes make it difficult for the user, such as an automotive mechanic or the like, to readily see or gain access to the contents of a drawer, tool cabinets or storage devices have also been provided with upstanding support panels or pallets or the like on which tools can be clipped or hung for better display to the user. Such upright arrangements may, for example, include wall cabinets, with a tool-support wall arranged vertically in use, and tool chests with pop-up tool pallets, which can be raised from a horizontal position to an upstanding position for better display and access. However, wall cabinets and tool chests with pop-up pallets have only a single pallet or tool-support wall.
In other applications, it has been known to provide cabinets with vertically-arranged drawers or storage units which can be slidably moved between closed positions within the cabinet and open positions extending from the cabinet, and on which items may be hung or clipped. In prior drawer cabinets, the drawers, whether vertical or horizontal, are typically supported on drawer slide assemblies, which commonly include two or three interfitted slide members or rails slidably movable relative to each other, usually with the aid of a friction-reducing arrangement, such as the use of low-friction materials, ball races and the like. The rails or tracks of these drawer slide assemblies are commonly channel-shaped, having a width substantially greater than the depth, the assemblies typically being mounted with the channel width oriented vertically in use. Thus, when the drawer is pulled out to its open position, the drawer slide assembly has uneven rigidity in horizontal and vertical directions.